Cooking Time - Who Doesn't Love Cake?!

I'm a big fan of inspiration, often I'll find a blog or cookbook that has an item which I cannot HELP but make. I've been playing around with a good number of various food items that I haven't blogged about, but I couldn't help but include this recipe onto my blog for future uses.

I found the recipe after viewing a link posted up by Mistress Madhavi, it's a fun cooking blog and the direct link can be found here: (http://adventurescooking.blogspot.com/2012/08/cardamom-brown-sugar-cake-with-fresh.html). The dish is called Cardamom Brown Sugar Cake with Fresh Cherries and Rose Cream, I've decided to give it the nickname of Fresh Cake for short. Everything about this dish just tastes fresh and clean, the cake has a dense but creamy texture to the tongue and the rose cream serves to heighten the feeling of refreshment and enjoyment. The fresh cherries are just the topping of it, I loved the taste but will be experimenting with various other fresh fruit berries to see if I can get a similar taste.

I did some minor ingredient changes from the original, here's my list and instructions for baking this yummy Fresh Cake!

Ingredients:

Cardamom Brown Sugar Cake

Fresh Cherries, pitted and cut in half (except for two for a garnish)

4 Large Eggs

2 and 1/4 Cups All-Purpose Flour

1 and 1/2 Cups Brown Sugar, packed

1 Cup Butter, softened

3/4 Cup Granulated Sugar

3/4 Cup Whole Milk

2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract

1/2 Teaspoon Fresh Ground Cardamom

1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

Rose Whipped Cream

2 Cups Cream

2 Tablespoons Powdered Sugar

1/2 to 1 Tablespoon Rose Water

Directions:

1)  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Make sure your oven is clean, unless you wan a strange smell on your cake!

2) Beat the cream and rose water until soft peaks form. Add the powdered sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. Cover and refrigerate until use.

3) In a medium-sized bowl, mix together the flour, salt, baking powder, and cardamom until blended then set it aside.

4)  Cream together the brown sugar, granulated sugar and the butter in a large bowl. Make sure no patches of bare sugar remain.

5) Add the eggs, one at a time, until completely combined into the sugar and butter mixture.

6) Alternate between adding the flour mixture and the milk until both are fully incorporated and a smooth batter forms.

7)  Evenly distribute the batter between 2 well-greased and lightly floured 8-inch and 2 well-greased and lightly floured 5-inch cake pans. I used 2 9-inch and 2 4-inch myself, and it distributed just fine :)

8) Place the pans in the oven and bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove the cake from the pans and allow it to cool.

9) Cut and pit your cherries, cherry juice can stain easily so be careful! I used the cooled cakes to measure out the number of cherries needed, placing them on top in the circular pattern to ensure te right amount was covered.

10) Once the cake has completely cooled, ice the cake layers with the whipping cream and layer the halved cherries between each layer. You can also ice the outside of the cake with the whipped cream, or leave the sides bare. Garnish the top with the two remaining whole cherries.

Some of the changes I made to the recipe changed the cake a bit on how it came out:

. By adding more rosewater than originally suggested, I got a stronger (but better imo) flavor of rose from the cream. It also made the cream a bit thinner, which was a bit frustrating so spread thinly!
. I used extra cherries....because. They were yummy, and a great addition ;)
. The freshly ground cardamom had a fresher taste, nicer smell and gave the cake an additional fresh taste! Go for it over the pre-ground whenever you can.